Peter's Friends
1992 Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Synopsis
It is New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter (Fry) gather at his newly inherited country house. Ten years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe, but it's less clear how much they have in common now.Peter's friends are Andrew (Branagh), now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger (Laurie) and Mary (Staunton); glamorous costume designer Sarah (Emmanuel); and eccentric Maggie (Thompson), who works in publishing. Cast in sharp relief to the university chums are Carol (Rudner), the American TV star wife of Andrew; and loutish Brian (Slattery), Sarah's very recently acquired lover. Law plays Peter's disapproving housekeeper, Vera; and Lowe, her son Paul. Briers appears in a cameo role as Peter's father.
Popular reviews
More-
'Fill me with your little babies!!' That line cracks me up incredibly every time I watch this, which I've done numerous times.
'Dramady' has not been done better very often.
-
What The Big Chill did at the beginning of the eighties with 70s music and a bunch of friends getting back together for the first time in years, Peter's Friends does at the beginning of the nineties with 80s music and in England. A great ensemble piece!
-
The joke is that the reason I wanted to watch this movie ended up being the thing I was most frustrated by when watching it.
Everyone says this is the British version of The Big Chill. If, by saying that, they mean that it's about old friends reuniting after time apart and that the soundtrack is a huge part of the film, then I suppose it's true. At it all other ways, the films don't share much in common.
What I did find interesting here is how, much of the time, these characters don't seem to like each other very much anymore. They're held together by the bonds of youth and youthful silliness, but their connection at this point is…
-
The brilliant Stephen Fry leads a terrific cast that includes Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Hugh Laurie. The soundtrack is fantastic. Branagh does a great job directing from a charming, witty, and clever script even if the ending is a little pretentious. Still, this is a very good character study. Definitely more than just "a british version of The Big Chill" as some people dub it.
-
Quite frankly one of the worst films I've ever seen in my life. So irredeemably smug I wanted to physically destroy the negative. Since Letterboxd doesn't allow for a zero star rating? It's lumbered with half a star. Positively shocking. Don't believe me? Click on the trailer option to the left under the avatar. The whole film is like THAT.
-
Just delightful.
Recent reviews
More-
Quite frankly one of the worst films I've ever seen in my life. So irredeemably smug I wanted to physically destroy the negative. Since Letterboxd doesn't allow for a zero star rating? It's lumbered with half a star. Positively shocking. Don't believe me? Click on the trailer option to the left under the avatar. The whole film is like THAT.
-
The only thing I'll mention are the annoying shots of the christmas tree completely obscuring the entire cast... as they're delivering pivotal dialogue.
Everything about this screams 1992 and I am as in love with that as anything else here.
-
The cast is just perfection. Hard to single any one person out. A damn good time. Great fun.
-
Just delightful.
-
The joke is that the reason I wanted to watch this movie ended up being the thing I was most frustrated by when watching it.
Everyone says this is the British version of The Big Chill. If, by saying that, they mean that it's about old friends reuniting after time apart and that the soundtrack is a huge part of the film, then I suppose it's true. At it all other ways, the films don't share much in common.
What I did find interesting here is how, much of the time, these characters don't seem to like each other very much anymore. They're held together by the bonds of youth and youthful silliness, but their connection at this point is…
-
What The Big Chill did at the beginning of the eighties with 70s music and a bunch of friends getting back together for the first time in years, Peter's Friends does at the beginning of the nineties with 80s music and in England. A great ensemble piece!
-
Saw this many years ago, and remembered very little about it, other than that I was very fond of it at the time. Having now watched it again, I'm wondering what I saw in it, and how I could have overlooked, for instance, Emma Thompson disrobing in front of Stephen Fry and pleading, "Fill me with your little babies." The main point of interest for me now -- the fact that five of the six main actors went on to become famous -- was obviously inapplicable back then. At the time, I only knew Branagh and Thompson; I had no idea who Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton were and completely forgot they were in this movie (though in the former's…
-
Just as good on the second watch. Fantastic soundtrack. Terrific cast. Great script, even if I still have a bit of a problem with the ending. Such an underrated film. One of Kenneth Branagh's best non-Shakespeare films.
-
'Fill me with your little babies!!' That line cracks me up incredibly every time I watch this, which I've done numerous times.
'Dramady' has not been done better very often.